Chapters 1-4 Summary

After a bout of experimental water boarding and near-drownings during swim break at Aptakisic Junior High School, Gurion Maccabbee and other juvenile delinquents start to pick random fights with each other before they are herded back into the Cage—an area of isolation to separate them from the rest of the students. Supervision of these adolescent misfits has devolved upon Ron Desormie, the school's gym teacher, who informs Gurion that he's being taken to the principal's office for discipline because of his chronic fighting. Gurion describes Desormie as "a perv[ert] on the make." Gurion meets Eliza June Watermark, another student, while waiting for Leonard Brodsky, the principal. Meanwhile, Desormie tries to flirt with Miss Pinge, the principal's secretary, who finally tells him to leave. June and Gurion agree that they hate "that perv," Desormie. Before going into the principal's...